Books You May have Missed 2021: Combined

"An Afrofuturist graphic novel that presents a new universe, tackling racism, classism, and gender equality while exposing ancient mysteries"--

A poignant and witty graphic novel by a leading New Yorker cartoonist, following a millennial's journey from performing his life to truly connecting with people
Nick, a young illustrator, can't shake the feeling that there is some hidden realm of human interaction beyond his reach. He haunts lookalike fussy, silly, coffee shops, listens to old Joni Mitchell albums too loudly, and stares at his navel in the hope that he will find...

"My Brilliant Life interweaves the past and present of a tight-knit family, finding joy and happiness in even the most difficult times. Areum lives life to its fullest, vicariously through the stories of his parents, conversations with Little Grandpa Jang - his sixty-year-old neighbor and best friend - and through the books he reads to visit the places he would otherwise never see. For several months, Areum has been working on a manuscript, piecing...

A widowed Italian farm woman finds unlikely companionship and startling self-discovery in a novel "as immediate and spellbinding as a two-character play" (La Stampa).
A Tuscan through and through, Nives didn't cry when she found her husband of fifty years dead in the pig pen. Nor did she cry at the funeral. But when loneliness sets in—and she brings her favorite chicken inside for company—she is shocked to discover that...

"The haunting story of a family of dreamers and tale-tellers looking for home in an unwelcoming world. Traces one girl's migration from war to peace, loss to loss, home to home. Firuzeh and her brother Nour are children of fire, born in an Afghanistan fractured by war. When their parents, their Atay and Abay, decide to leave, they spin fairy tales of their destination, the mythical land and opportunities of Australia. As the family journeys from Pakistan...

"The Whiting Award-winning author makes his long-awaited comeback with this epic tale, spanning from the Deep South to the Middle East, that bridges four countries, two cultures, and three families who struggle to love and survive in the face of war, natural disasters, and other calamities beyond their control. Ramadan Ramsey is the improbable love story between Alicia Ramsey, a ninth generation New Orleans African American, and Mustafah Tota, a Syrian...

"Covering the entire arc of Couto's career, this collection displays the Mozambican author's inventiveness, sensitivity, and social range with greater richness than any previous collection, including early stories that reflect the harshness of life under Portuguese colonialism; magical tales of rural Africa; and contemporary fables of the slipperiness of race and gender, environmental disaster and the clash between the countryside and the city. The...

"A long-married couple is forced to confront their friend's painful past when a church revival comes to a nearby town... A woman in an arranged marriage struggles to connect with the son she hid from her husband for years... A well-meaning sister unwittingly reunites an abuser with his victims... Through the lives of an indelible array of individuals--musicians, housewives and pastors, children and grandparents, the men and women who own the dry cleaners...

"Featuring stories by a bestselling, cross-genre assortment of some of the most exciting writers working today, an anthology of gender-bent, queered, race-bent, and inclusive retellings from the vast lore surrounding King Arthur, Camelot, and the Knights of the Round Table. The stories are so iconic that just a name, a word, conjures romance and betrayal, chivalry and magic. These are legends so embedded in our culture that they feel real; that as...

"Mickie Lambert creates "digital scrapbooks" for clients, ensuring that precious souvenirs aren't forgotten or lost. When her latest client, Nadia Denham, a curio shop owner, dies from an apparent suicide, Mickie honors the old woman's last wish and begins curating her peculiar objets d'art. A music box, a hair clip, a key chain--twelve mementos in all that must have meant so much to Nadia, who collected them on her flea market scavenges across the...